Music can help to create rich and complex musical memories that are stored in multiple areas of the brain, which helps them become reinforced.
Brain Health in the News
The better question may be, do hearing aids reduce dementia, or does dementia reduce hearing aid use? This is the title of a May 2023 Hearing Journal paper.
Hearing Aids May Protect Against a Higher Risk of Dementia Associated With Hearing Loss
People experiencing hearing loss who are not using a hearing aid may have a higher risk of dementia than people without hearing loss. However, using a hearing aid may reduce this risk to the same level as people without hearing loss, according to the Lancet Public Health research.
Hearing Better Can Help You Think Better
Describing hearing loss as a risk factor for dementia is “true under the strict epidemiologic definition of ‘risk,’” but the lay public may misunderstand risk as implying “a warning about an impending adverse event.”
Sorting the Priorities
The audiologist listened to my shock and confusion, but confirmed that my test printout showed severe hearing loss. She did one other brief test, which showed 95 percent word recognition. I always hear conversations, so how could I have all this hearing loss?
When You Have to Think and Walk, What Happens to Your Balance?
Most activities of daily living require us to do two or more things at the same time, especially motor tasks (walking, standing, moving) with some form of a cognitive task (navigating, talking, decision-making). But it is not yet entirely clear what happens to balance performance in healthy individuals when they are also performing a cognitive task.
Aging Actively
Aging actively is more than a phrase. It’s about extending healthy life expectancy and quality of life for all people as they age. We all know that connecting to one another and our physical world is absolutely vital in preserving our wellbeing, so as we think of our five senses, many would agree that hearing plays an important role in maintaining our quality of life.
Age-Related Hearing Loss and Brainwave Changes
Brain oscillations (brainwaves) are associated with specific cognitive and sensory processes. How age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) alters the oscillations is unclear. Age-related speech recognition problems can be caused by changes in neurotransmission (chemical messaging between nerve cells) and temporal processing (the perception of sound within a defined time frame).